Boy, Howdy: Fox Extends King’s Reign

It looks like Hank, Peggy and Bobby Hill are going to have a lot of more Texan-style adventures at least through the May of 2005. Daily Variety reports today that Fox has greenlit a ninth season of the hit animated series King of the Hill with current showrunners John Altschuler and Dave Krinsky. The show will kick off its eighth season next month.

“We didn’t do all the stories we wanted to do this year,” Altschuler told the publication. “What’s nice is you’ve got another year, you’ve got the ideas, you’ve got the staff, and that made us want to run up that hill again!”

Created by Mike Judge and Greg Daniels, King of the Hill has been a Sunday night staple for most of its run. The series, which marked its 150th episode last season, has been delivering top ratings (No. 1 among adults 19-49 and top male demos; May sweeps ratings were up 14% from last year’s). It’s also performing well in syndication, and the first season of the show was released on DVD a few weeks ago.

Kelly Clarkson, Gene Simmons, Brad Pitt, Ben Stiller, Christina Applegate, Melissa Etheridge, Laura Dern, Jamie Kennedy and Sum 41 are some of the guest voices scheduled for the eighth season of the show. Judge, Daniels, Altschuler and Krinsky, Michael Rotenberg and Howard Klein are exec producers. King of the Hill is a production from 20th Century Fox, 3 Arts Entertainment, Film Roman, Deedle-Dee Productions and Judgemental Films.